MEĐUNARODNI PROBLEMI

Restrictive France, Permissive Europe? Discussing the Specificity of the French Public Governance of Religions

Strack Frédéric (University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada), frederic.strack@usherbrooke.ca

French public regulation of religions is often portrayed as uniquely restrictive among Western democracies. This article argues for a more nuanced understanding of the French governance of religion by situating it in both international and domestic perspectives, and by contrasting national dynamics with local practices. At the national level, France indeed exhibits an increasingly restrictive orientation, particularly regarding the visibility of religious signs. Yet this trend coexists with other, more accommodating regulatory instruments, and is not exclusive to France but observable internationally, across several Western societies. At the local level in France, the picture is even more complex: numerous public initiatives continue to facilitate or support religious practice, sometimes explicitly framed as contributions to social cohesion or equality of treatment. Based on a study of legal documents and interviews with local elected officials, the article attempts to answer the following question: how can we better assess the public regulation of religions, in particular in the case of France? Departing from a focus limited to the national level and Muslim community practices, the article advocates for an analysis of the public regulation of religion as a whole, taking into account both national and local levels, as well as concepts of restriction and accommodation.

Keywords: Laïcité, secularism, local politics, public regulation, religious minorities